The Bulgarian Foreign Minister has rejected Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne's requests for a meeting at the United Nations to discuss the ongoing detention of Australian citizen Jock Palfreeman.
Ekaterina Zaharieva told local media outlet Nova she informed Ms Payne's office that her diary was too full: "There was no meeting," she said.
The embarrassing rebuff came as Jock Palfreeman gave his first interview from inside the Busmantsi Detention Centre, condemning the Australian Government's handling of his controversial criminal case in Bulgaria.
"The time for Australia to step up diplomatic pressure on Bulgaria was 11-and-a-half years ago," he told the ABC in an exclusive interview.
"Successive Australian Governments have failed to do anything about my situation … my hope that the Australian Government would help me was gone many years ago."
On Thursday, Bulgaria's highest court agreed to hear a deeply irregular application from the country's powerful prosecutor-general to have the Australian returned to prison, which will likely see Palfreeman held in custody for at least another month.
He was officially paroled last Thursday, and although he is considered a free man under Bulgarian law, Palfreeman has instead languished in immigration detention.
'Kept in prison' despite issuing of passport
Bulgarian officials have said for several days the Australian was simply awaiting a new passport. Even on Wednesday, the Justice Minister Danail Kirilov told the local media "this person is not deprived of his freedom".
But Palfreeman said the Bulgarian Government has been lying, and he believes there's an unofficial ban on his leaving the detention facility.
"The embassy staff made my passport on Friday and brought it to Bulgaria on Monday," he said.
"I've been told that they gave some official statements that as soon as I get a passport I'm allowed to leave but that's simply not true because my passport was here on Monday."
He also revealed that Australian consular officials who had attempted to meet with Bulgaria's immigration department director, Nikolay Nikolov, had not been granted an audience.
"The Bulgarian authorities responsible for keeping me in prison … have blanked the Australian embassy staff," he said.
"That was yesterday. I don't know what the situation is today."
The on-the-ground diplomatic efforts are being led by Andrea Biggi, deputy head of mission at Australia's Embassy in Athens.
Ms Payne's office told the media yesterday she was seeking a meeting with her Bulgarian counterpart. But Ms Zaharieva has now declined.
"They wanted to meet yesterday but my schedule is full," she said.
"We crossed paths for a minute at the multiculturalism event. She said there was an issue, but I asked her to come back to us via their consul if they have any questions. There was no meeting."
Ms Payne told the ABC: "I spoke with my Bulgarian counterpart today on the sidelines at the UN and raised with Minister Zakharieva Australia's concerns about Mr Palfreeman's case.
"Given the parole decision, consular officials will continue engaging with the Bulgarian Government on his situation and arrangements for his release."
After stabbing and killing a law student in 2007, Jock Palfreeman was convicted two years later and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
He has always maintained his innocence, and said he acted in self-defence after a mob attacking two homeless Roma men turned on him when he tried to intervene. But his appeals were previously unsuccessful, and his conviction was upheld by the Bulgarian Supreme Court in 2011.
The now 32-year-old was denied parole at a July hearing, and his successful appeal last week has created upheaval in the capital Sofia, which is in the midst of local government elections.
Application to have parole overturned
At a rally protesting the parole decision called by the far-right Ataka, or Attack Party earlier in the week, its leader Volen Sidorov, announced he was running for mayor of Sofia.
"You know, the far-right parties — the way they garnish [sic] elections — the way they garnish votes from their election is through fearmongering and hatemongering and I have fallen into this campaign of the local election."
A march through Sofia was led yesterday by Hristo Monov, an influential former politician. It was his son, Andrei Monov, who died in the 2007 fight.
He rallied his supporters to campaign for the sacking of Kalin Kalpakchiev, the judge who presided over Palfreeman's appeal.
"The national identity is threatened when there is no justice in the judicial system," he said.
"This is why those who brought shame to the courts should be ousted. They are a threat to our country."
On Tuesday, Bulgarian prosecutor-general Sotir Tsatsarov lodged an unprecedented application to have Palfreeman's parole overturned at the Supreme Court of Cassation — even though no parole matter has ever been heard there before.
Under existing Bulgarian law, parole decisions by Sofia's Court of Appeal are final and cannot be reviewed.
"I'm used to these games from the Prosecutor's office," Palfreeman said. "It's not the first time and in all possibility it won't be the last."
'Less rights … less food'
On Thursday, the Court of Cassation agreed to hear the motion. Vice-president of the court, Judge Galina Zahareva, announced a hearing would be held on October 23.
Bulgaria's deputy interior minister, Stefan Balabanov, strongly hinted yesterday that Palfreeman would remain in custody until then.
"Right now, this person is in a centre meant to house people like him and migrants," he said.
"Whether his embassy gives him a passport or not, that is their decision to make."
Although the centre is cleaner than Sofia's maximum security prison, Palfreeman said "the conditions are actually more oppressive than they are in prison".
"We have actually less rights, we have less food … I specifically requested that I be able to see journalists with cameras and be able to speak in front of a camera [and] that was denied.
"I was making jokes today with some workers outside my cell, because I said 'do you see these bars on this window, these are the bars for a free man.'"
On Thursday, Jock's father Simon Palfreeman called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to lobby his counterpart. But Jock himself holds out no such hopes.
"I don't expect anything from them, if the past is anything to go by," he said.
"No one seems interested in pushing or obliging Bulgaria to fulfil their legal obligations.
"For the last 11-and-a-half years, me and my family have gotten the same response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that was Australia can't interfere in the legal system of a sovereign country."
Ms Payne's office has been contacted for comment.
